FRIENDSHIP'S  OFFERING 
THE  STORY  OF  B-W'AND 
NICOLETTE  ^^  BY  A-E-F 


rEXUBRE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA^ 


JOHN  HENKf  NASH  LIBRARY 

<$»  SAN  FRANCISCO  <8> 

PRESENTED  TO  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

ROBERT  GORDON  SPROUL, PRESIDENT. 

MR.ANDMRS.MILTON  S.RAY 
CECILY,  VIRGINIAANDROSALYN  RAY 

AND  THE 

RAY  OIL  BURNER  COMPANY 


SAN  FRANCISCO 
NEW  YORK. 


Friendship's  Offering 


Friendfhip**  Offering 


BOSTON 

The  Merrymount  Press 
1906 


Friendship**  Offering 

"HOW  FAR  THAT  LITTLE  CANDLE  THROWS  HIS  BEAMS, 
SO  SHINES  A  GOOD  DEED  IN  A  NAUGHTY  WORLD." 

IF  the  very  angels  of  heaven  were  sent 
to  guard  and  guide  him  upon  his  jour- 
ney, I,  for  one,  should  not  wonder;  for  his 
errand  was  a  blessed  one  from  start  to  finish. 
But  who  was  the  traveller  who  might  have 
been  so  favored?  Only  a  dog.  And  with  what 
noble  mission  may  such  an  one  as  he  have 
been  entrusted?  Only  the  rescue  of  another 
small  creature. 

How  did  I  come  to  know  the  story?  One 
morning  last  year  I  read  in  my  "Daily 
News"  the  following  paragraph: 

A  family  living  in  the  town  of  A , 

having  decided  upon  a  change  of  residence^ 
departed  one  morning  from  their  old  home, 
taking  with  them  their  dog,  but  leaving  behind 
the  household  cat.  'The  second  day  after  their 
establishment  in  the  new  home  the  dog  dis- 
appeared, reappearing  in  a  few  days  accom- 
panied by  the  cat. 

Much  impressed  by  this  vouched-for 
statement,  I  determined  to  learn  as  much 
as  was  possible  about  the,  to  me,  remarkable 


Friendship's  Offering 

incident.  This,  though  I  found  somewhat 
difficult  of  accomplishment  as  to  time  and 
place  and  some  other  small  details,  was  ren- 
dered more  possible  by  my  rather  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  nature,  manners  and  cus- 
toms and  mental  equipment  of  these  lit- 
tle creatures  generically  considered;  which 
knowledge,  together  with  careful  and  per- 
sistent searching,  of  outward  inquiry  and 
inward  cogitation,  did  so  lend  itself  to  my 
inquiries  that  at  length  I  became  possessed 
of  as  much  as  is  recorded  below  of  the  con- 
ception and  manner  of  rescue  by  B.  W.  the 
dog,  of  Nicolette  the  cat,  through  and  out 
of  the  miles  of  country  lying  between  the 

small  towns  of  A and  Z ,  in  our 

own  state  of  Massachusetts. 

The  preliminary  facts  I  found  to  be  as 
stated,  namely,  the  family  had  moved  away, 
taking  with  them  the  dog  and  deserting  the 
cat.  The  dog  went  back  for  the  cat,  and  re- 
turned bringing  her  with  him. 

So  in  that  family  was  just  one  faithful 
soul.  Out  of  them  all, — father,  mother  and 
children, — only  one  really  humane  creature, 
and  that  one  the  dog!  For  surely  the  word 
"humane,"  if  it  means  anything,  implies 
kindness  and  friendliness  and  faithfulness. 


Friendship's  Offering 

At  the  time  of  the  family  migration  the 
two  creatures  had  been  living  together  for 
some  months.  They  had  not  always  been 
friends.  In  the  very  beginning  there  had 
undoubtedly  been  misunderstandings.  The 
one  who  came  last  had  not  been  gratified 
to  find  the  other  installed  upon  his  arrival, 
and  this  had  been  expressed  in  somewhat 
rude  and  noisy  language  and  behavior, 
while  the  first  comer  had  considered  the 
advent  of  the  second  uncalled-for  and  su- 
perfluous. However,  occupying  somewhat 
humble  capacities  in  the  household  econ- 
omy, their  opinions  had  not  been  soli- 
cited, much  less  considered  and  acted  upon, 
and  the  two  found  themselves  living  to- 
gether side  by  side,  their  only  chance  of 
happiness  lying  in  the  event  of  their  mak- 
ing the  best  of  the  situation.  So  they  read 
the  lesson,  and  had  straightway  acted  upon 
it,  and  the  blessing  of  friendship  had  pre- 
sently descended  upon  these  humble  hearts. 

They  had  grown  to  be  true  and  trusted 
friends.  This  they  had  not  fully  realized 
while  all  was  going  well  with  them.  We  all 
have  a  trick  of  taking  things  for  granted, 
and  we  are  occasionally  much  surprised  at 
the  hold  which  every-day  demands  have 
[3  ] 


Friendship's  Offering 

taken  upon  us  when  the  surface  is  dis- 
turbed and  we  see  the  roots  growing  and 
clinging  down  below. 

B.  W.  was  a  Scotch  terrier  of  the  rough- 
and-ready  sort,  intelligent,  frank,  impulsive, 
and  altogether  friendly  by  nature. 

Nicolette  was  a  small  black  puss,  slim 
and  big-eyed;  in  temper  uncertain;  in  mood 
of  infinite  variety;  and  of  engaging  though 
dissembling  ways. 

To  go  on  with  the  tale:  B.  W.,  noting 
Nicolette's  absence,  resolved  to  rescue  her 
from  the  now  deserted  hearthstone,  thereby 
gathering  her  into  the  family  fold  once  more. 
The  project  no  sooner  conceived  than  he 
set  about  its  fulfilment.  He  departed  with- 
out disclosing  his  intention,  without  mak- 
ing his  adieux.  He  was  forced  to  travel 
somewhat  uncertainly  and  slowly,  for  the 
way  was  unknown  and  even  the  direction 
was  to  be  worked  out  as  he  journeyed. 
But  his  sense  of  locality  was  keen,  and  the 
end  of  the  second  day  brought  him  within 
the  circle  of  well-known  signs;  and  very 
hot  and  anxious  and  weary,  at  a  late  hour 
that  night,  he  trotted  through  the  gateway 
of  the  old  home.  And  there  upon  the  door- 
step sat  Nicolette  whom  he  sought!  Nico- 

[4] 


Friendship's  Offering 

lette  his  friend,  in  thrall  to  hunger  and  per- 
haps cold,  but  more  than  all  to  homeless- 
ness  and  all  unfriendliness. 

A  heart  well  shaped  for  certain  poignant 
pain  is  hers,  as  are  all  those  of  her  kind, 
and  Nicolette's  cup  of  grief  had  filled  to 
overflowing  when,  lo !  there  burst  upon  her 
jaundiced  vision  a  Friendly  Being.  By  her 
blessed  ancestors! — gods  out  of  Egypt;  of 
desert  and  river  and  air  and  hearthstone 
and  temple  —  here  was  deliverance,  for  here 
was  B.  W !  No  eye  was  upon  them  when 
thus  they  met,  and  when  in  that  first  greet- 
ing B.  W.  proffered  his  affectionate  friend- 
ship and  help  and  Nicolette's  fears  and  sor- 
rows were  assuaged.  The  Philistines  whom 
B.  W.  had  left  behind  were  not  bidden  to 
this  sight;  they  had  done  that  which  had 
for  the  time  counted  them  out  from  among 
the  Eleft. 

B.  W.'s  happiness  in  that  moment  was 
great,  I  venture  to  guess,  and  being  straight- 
forward and  sincere,  it  is  easy  to  believe  he 
cared  not  who  might  know  it,  and  that  he 
did  then  and  there  express  his  joy  and  re- 
lief in  the  dear  old-fashioned  doggy  way, 
with  much  tail-wagging  and  turning  and 
twisting,  and  talking  in  his  own  half-articu- 
[5  ] 


Friendship's  Offering 

late  and  wholly  moving  language. 

And  Nicolette,  surprised  in  her  grief  and 
loneliness,  how  did  she  then  comport  her- 
self? 

When  a  cat  is  willing  to  show  the  feel- 
ings diftated  by  an  honest  heart,  one  va- 
riety of  its  expression  may  slightly  resem- 
ble the  pleased,  tail-wagging,  frank  and 
altogether  lovely  expression  of  a  dog  when- 
ever he  is  not  absolutely  forced  to  restrain 
himself;  but  such  aspect,  if  ever  it  does  ap- 
pear, is  fleeting  in  the  complex  beings  of 
Nicolette's  kind.  When  her  deepest  feel- 
ings are  stirred  she  not  infrequently  as- 
sumes a  flippant  manner,  and  when  she  is 
light-minded  and  frivolous  she  may  tear 
your  heart  with  doleful  cries.  Indeed,  why 
should  she  be  simple  and  crude  in  manner 
and  make-up,  with  traditions  no  less  than 
Egyptian !  Did  Nicolette,  forgetful  of  her 
affectations  and  misleading  mannerisms  and 
airs  and  graces,  just  show  herself  quite 
straightforward  and  grateful? 

I  am  sure  the  main  thing.,  that  she  could 
count  upon  B.  W.  to  the  death,  was  safely 
stored  away  in  her  little  mental  or  moral 
receptacle,  and  I  think  she  knew  in  that 
same  deep  place  that  she  should  never  cease 
[6] 


Friendship's  Offering 

to  be  grateful  to  him ;  but  I  do  not  find  it 
impossible  to  think  that  this  knowledge  was 
hidden  away  from  all  observers,  and  that 
no  little  trickling  stream  might  be  allowed 
to  meander  away  that  should  discover  its 
source — even  to  B.  W.  himself!  Though  I 
will  not  believe  that  in  that  first  moment  of 
happy  deliverance  she  did  not  make  cour- 
tesy to  her  deliverer. 

And  he  knew — depend  upon  him  for 
that!  And  he  was  content  to  be  the  means 
under  Providence  of  restoring  again  to  the 
family  this  surely  beloved,  though  inad- 
vertently overlooked  member;  and  in  some 
fashion  he  explained  to  Nicolette  that  the 
old  place  was  forever  shorn  of  its  protec- 
tion and  friendly  comfort,  and  that  to  find 
home  again  she  must  go  forth  with  him  to 
seek  it.  But  B.  W.,  at  this  point,  though  he 
had  travelled  far,  was  only  at  the  beginning 
of  his  undertaking. 

Like  others  of  her  tribe,  extremely  at- 
tached to  locality  and  violently  opposed  to 
change  of  residence  and  association,  Nico- 
lette, in  yielding  up  with  B.  W.'s  aid  and 
advice  her  most  tenaciously  held  convic- 
tions, must  have  performed  at  this  moment 
within  her  mind  a  somewhat  radical  reor- 
[  7  ] 


Friendship's  Offering 

ganization.  Such  a  turn-about  is  not  infre- 
quently something  of  a  moral  shock,  and  so 
it  proved  in  Nicolette's  case.  Inertia  when 
it  is  overcome  is  changed  into  momentum 
if  one  elects  to  turn  into  a  downward  path, 
and  Nicolette  thus  weighing  anchor,  chose 
to  sail,  I  regret  to  say,  the  flowery-bordered 
and  swift-descending  stream  of  irresponsi- 
bility and  freedom. 

In  this  frame  of  mind  she  was  to  start 
upon  her  journey;  and  this  fact,  together 
with  other  causes  which  will  presently  ap- 
pear, will  go  to  show  that  B.  W.  had  essayed 
a  task  which  was  not  without  its  difficulties, 
and  will  explain  something  of  the  trials  of 
flesh  and  spirit  which  were  to  be  his  portion 
during  the  next  few  days. 

It  was  with  a  happy  and  unsuspecting 
heart,  however,  that  he  composed  himself 
that  night  for  a  much  needed  rest,  believ- 
ing that  all  was  well  with  Nicolette,  and 
confident  that  in  starting  upon  their  home- 
ward way  all  trials  and  troubles  would  be 
left  behind.  And  the  next  morning  with 
none  but  pleasant  anticipations  they  fared 
forth  together. 

B.  W.  was  single-minded  in  his  desire 
to  trot  steadily  and  soberly  toward  home — 
[8] 


Friendship's  Offering 

Nicolette  not  necessarily  so  inclined.  For 
to  Nicolette,  quick  to  see  and  feel,  impa- 
tient of  restraint,  with  endless  capacity  for 
amusement,  filled  to  the  brim  with  curi- 
osity, fleet  of  foot,  gay — indeed  possessing 
all  these  qualities  in  the  proportion  to  that 
of  other  small  creatures  as  nine  is  to  one — 
to  this  Nicolette,  now  emancipated  tempo- 
rarily from  ordinary  traditions,  her  imagi- 
nation excited  by  the  quick-changing  phe- 
nomena of  foreign  travel,  the  next  few  days 
presented  fearful  and  disintegrating  joys 
and  temptations. 

Circumstance,  under  these  conditions, 
became  large  with  Opportunity,  and  the 
most  ordinary  events  and  scenes  resolved 
themselves  to  this  light-minded  and  wan- 
dering puss  into  an  endless  and  intoxicating 
Giddy-go-round!  And  Nicolette's  will,  in 
face  of  all  these  allurements,  became  as  water; 
and  the  noble  structure  of  her  character  for 
the  moment  toppled  and  almost  fell.  Still, 
painful  as  it  may  be  to  dwell  upon  the  ex- 
treme degree  of  incompatibility  of  method 
between  the  good  B.  W.  and  Nicolette,  do 
not  imagine  that  his  experience  was  all  bit- 
ter; for  besides  that  happiness  that  accom- 
panies and  keeps  pace  with  the  doer  of  all 

[9] 


Friendship's  Offering 

good  deeds,  and  in  addition  to  the  accus- 
tomed pleasure  which  B.  W.  experienced  in 
Nicolette's  society,  there  were  moments  in 
those  days  of  travel  when  B.  W.  extracted 
joy  and  true  refreshment  from  the  spectacle 
of  Nicolette's  astonishing  versatility  and 
sustained  power.  These  moments,  I  have 
reason  to  believe,  B.  W.  subsequently  looked 
back  upon  as  more  than  compensating  for 
those  others  when  he  only  not  quite  suc- 
cumbed to  hopeless  despair. 

In  what  season  they  travelled  I  know 
not,  but  if  their  pilgrimage  was  in  the  au- 
tumn, when  all  the  leaves  on  all  the  trees 
were  descending  in  golden  showers,  and 
scudding  and  rustling  and  flying  before  the 
wind,  then  would  B.  W.  have  needed  grace 
to  endure;  for  then  would  Nicolette  have 
been  mad  with  joy,  and  the  wind  not  fleeter 
nor  more  prone  to  be  caught  and  kept  in  a 
straight  and  narrow  path  than  she,  this  erst- 
while forsaken  and  pining  little  cat ! 

If  at  such  times  B.  W.  forgot  himself  so 
far  as  to  administer  rebuke,  then  indeed 
would  time  have  been  lost  before  pleasant 
relations  were  again  resumed,  and  the  line 
of  march  taken  up.  "Wigs  would  have 
been  on  the  green" — and  not  all  the  wigs 


Friendship's  Offering 

would  have  been  Nicolette's. 

Many  a  box  on  the  ear  must  B.  W.  have 
received  from  the  object  of  this  Rescue, 
though  we  will  venture  to  guess  from  tem- 
pered paws. 

We  may  hope,  too,  that  their  journeying 
was  not  at  the  time  of  year  when  little 
fledgelings  are  young  and  tender  and  have 
not  thoroughly  mastered  the  art  of  flying, 
while  ill-advised  if  anxious  parent-birds 
draw  the  attention  of  hungry  cats  to  the 
ineffective  skippings  and  hoppings  of  their 
offspring  by  loud  and  piercing  cries.  O 
Nicolette!  Nicolette!  "Hast  thou  named 
all  the  birds  without  a  gun?" 

And  the  voice  of  the  locust,  and  of  the 
innumerable  small  quarry  that  fill  the  sum- 
mer days  and  nights  with  sound, — for  all 
these  Nicolette  would  have  been  con- 
strained to  tarry. 

Indeed  no  season  would  seem  to  offer 
rapid  conduct  to  this  mercurial  little  being; 
no  plan  for  simple  progress  not  subject 
to  devastation ;  and  it  will,  I  think,  plainly 
be  seen  that  B.  W.  carried  a  pack  of  care 
upon  his  pilgrim  back. 

It  would  be  good  to  think  they  pur- 
chased and  decently  paid  for  their  proven- 

t "  i 


Friendship's  Offering 

der  by  the  way,  and  yet  they  must  have 
travelled  according  to  scriptural  injunction 
"without  purse  or  scrip."  Indeed  they  may 
be  said  to  have  been  constitutionally  in- 
capable of  pockets. 

"Men,"  says  Teufelsdroch,  "are  pro- 
perly said  to  be  clothed  with  Authority, 
clothed  with  Beauty,  with  Curses,"  and 
clothed,  perhaps, with  Honesty — why  notP 
Be  that  as  it  may, — no  doubt  good  appe- 
tites and  a  somewhat  arrogant  estimate  of 
individual  rights  in  both;  an  honest  mien 
on  B.  W.'s  part,  and  finesse  and  equal 
daring  in  Nicolette,  combined  to  fill  the 
larder. 

Short  work  would  have  been  made  of 
tempting  and  unguarded  lunches,  and  the 
rations  of  many  would  have  been  requisi- 
tioned as  they  journeyed  along.  Accounts 
would  have  been  run  up,  I  dare  say,  as  in 
haste  they  helped  themselves  and  departed, 
and  no  man  swift  enough  to  stand  creditor. 

And  so  passed  the  days, —  B.  W.,  the 
pilot  and  guide,  faithful,  perplexed,  anx- 
ious, conciliatory;  Nicolette,  so  exasper- 
ating, so  dishevelled  in  her  manner  of  pro- 
ceeding, and  yet  understanding  and  esti- 
mating the  situation  as  exactly  as  B.  W. 

t "I 


Friendship's  Offering 

himself.  Was  ever  any  creature  so  change- 
able in  conduct,  so  fixed  in  intent! 

At  length  the  journey  was  ended,  and  it 
is  related  that  on  the  third  or  fourth  day 
after  his  disappearance  B.  W.,  accompanied 
by  Nicolette,  walked  soberly  in  at  the  front 
door,  thus  rejoining  with  his  friend  the  fa- 
mily circle,  much  to  the  gratification,  if  also 
to  the  moral  confusion,  of  the  members 
there  assembled. 

That  is  the  end  of  the  story,  but  that  is 
not  all.  The  spirit  of  it  lies  within,  —  some- 
thing sacred  if  we  look  at  it  with  singleness 
of  vision,  it  seems  to  me;  and  B.  W.  is  seen 
as  possessing  that  in  his  nature  whereby  we 
call  men  children  of  the  Most  High.  For 
brotherly  love  and  compassion  are  the  marks 
of  the  divine  within  us.  They  are  virtues  by 
the  exercise  of  which  do  we  all  move  toward 
the  light. 

As  to  motives — God  alone  knows  us,  and 
He  only  knows  how,  through  all  our  striv- 
ing, we  are  prone  to  seek  for  happiness.  But 
this  dog  had  a  simple  heart,  and  it  is  not  for 
us  to  ascribe  to  it  other  than  simple  motives. 

What  was  the  little  rift  within  the  lute 
of  a  life  with  its  physical  wants  all  satisfied, 
and  with  no  needs  except  those  of  the  body, 

1 13] 


Friendship's  Offering 

— as  we  so  easily  say, — with  nothing  upon 
which  to  call  except  that  provision  within 
which  we  name  "  blind  instinct,"  that  light- 
est breath  of  Spirit  which,  when  the  body 
looses  it,  just  joins  the  breeze  and  goes 
wandering — as  we  say? 

What  was  the  unrest  that  bade  him  seek  ? 

B.  W.  had  no  skill  in  mastering  moral 
precepts, — all  he  could  do  was  to  follow 
the  little  glimmering  light  that  was  within. 
But  certain  it  is  that  in  some  way  or  other 
the  clear  order  came  to  him,  and  that  he 
answered,  "Here  am  I,  send  me." 

To  B.  W.  there  was  a  vacant  chair,  albeit 
that  chair  is  sure  to  have  been  in  the  warm- 
est and  choicest  spot  upon  the  hearthstone. 
The  one  who  must  be  sought  out  and 
brought  back  was  a  friend,  but  one  whose 
appetite  may  have  made  many  an  inroad 
upon  his  daily  portion,  and  by  whom  his 
cherished  bone  may  many  times  have  been 
wantonly  uncovered  and  scattered  abroad. 

Perhaps  it  was  pity  that  laid  low  his  peace 
of  mind  while  Nicolette  was  forsaken,  and 
that  bade  him  seek  her.  Perhaps  B.  W.  was 
the  Good  Samaritan  —  certainly  there  had 
not  been  lack  of  those  who  passed  by  on 
the  other  side. 

[  HI 


Friendship's  Offering 

Perhaps  it  was  as  those  who  were  Cru- 
saders of  old  that  B.  W.  started  out,  to  right 
the  wrong  and  slay  the  evil;  and  if  it  was, 
I  do  not  know  that  the  crusade  was  any  less 
holy  because  this  little  knight  trotted  over 
the  way  on  his  own  four  feet.  If  such  deeds 
are  worthy  in  men,  then  are  they  so  in  dogs. 

But  perhaps  the  call  did  not  come  to  him 
as  one  of  service  and  rescue,  perhaps  he  was 
not  the  Good  Samaritan;  perhaps  he  may 
not  be  likened  to  a  knight  of  old;  perhaps 
he  went  for  Nicolette  for  another  reason  less 
heroic,  less  disinterested, — for  he  may  have 
gone  for  her  just  because  he  loved  and 
needed  his  friend.  If  this  only  was  his  mo- 
tive let  us  take  him  gently  down  from  that 
other  high  pedestal;  and  where  now  shall 
we  put  him  ?  Where  in  our  thoughts  do  we 
put  a  man  who  has  need  of  a  friend  and 
comrade;  for  Nicolette  was  not  a  mate  after 
his  kind,  —  she  was  an  equal  friend.  But 
however  we  may  interpret  B.  W.'s  deed,  by 
virtue  of  it  there  shines  in  the  humble  set- 
ting of  this  dog's  heart  an  "inward  quality" 
which  all  may  see.  In  conceiving  and  ex- 
ecuting his  plan  for  the  relief  of  Nicolette 
he  must  have  possessed — for  his  peace  of 
mind — something  dangerously  near  a  hu- 
[  '5] 


Friendship's  Offering 

man  heart  and  intelligence.  No  Happy 
Hunting  Ground  would  now  suffice  to  finish 
B.  W.'s  course;  now  would  he  find  himself 
an  alien  and  stranger  among  those  whose 
hearts  having  been  tried  are  found  not 
wanting. 

And  who  can  know  that  some  day  "ad- 
mitted to  an  equal  sky  "  he  will  not  find  his 
appointed  place  in  some  great  ingathering 
of  souls ! 


